Bolivia:
Community-based
Tourism and its Market
Approach
Juan René Alcoba Meriles
SNV Bolivia

Introduction - Bolivia
Bolivia:
Located at the
Centre of South
America
1.098.581 Km2
Double size of France
26 times the size of
Netherlands
8 millions
inhabitants

Introduction – Tourism in Bolivia
Known as an Andean destinations, its main
tourism destinations are:
Titikaka Lake – Sun Island (Isla del Sol)
Andean Mountain Range
Uyuni – Red Lagoon
Sucre - Potosí
Rainforest and Low lands – Rurrenabaque
390.000 Foreign visitors per year
Length of stay (average): 10 days
Expenditures: US$ 50,00 per day
Main motivation: Vacations
90% Foreign Independent Travellers

Community Based Tourism - CBT
What is CBT
Business
Communities have a relevant role:
Ownership
Management
Benefits
Aims of CBT
Improvement of local livelihood
Biodiversity conservation

Communty-Based Tourism
(CBT)
Success Factors
Community commitment
Long term investment
Entrepreneur culture
Technical and financial support available
Understanding of local community
Financial and commercial viability

Market Approach (MA) for CBT
The MA gives information to identify
market opportunities and assess the
potential benefits.
The communities could decide to
engage or not to engage in a project
and where they can orientate their
efforts to get benefits

Market Approach for CBT
Market analysis
Market potential
Market access
Competitiveness
Market opportunities
Potential market segments
Potential products for the identified segments
Potential costs and benefits

CBT in Bolivia
More than 80 CBT projects
A CBT enterprise profile is:
A lodge + …
Near or in to a protected area
Offers an “ecotourism” product
Offers all inclusive products
Only some members of the community are part of the
business
The original idea comes from a NGO
It was developed within 3 up to 12 months
The investment ranges from US$ 30.000 up to US$ 100.000
Its market target are foreign ecotourists
Do not have market alliances – sold itself the products
Do not have an administrative framework

Amboró National Park
6.376 km2
From 300 m up to 3300 m
over sea level
9 Municipalities
93 communities
30.000 inhabitants
6.000 visitors
12 CBT projects

22 Areas Protegidas
en Bolivia
Amboró National Park

CBT at Amboro National Park

Amboró - CBT projects
and its problems
The visitors flow is low and it is not sufficient
for all CBT projects
All Projects are looking for the same market
Bad quality of services and infrastructure
Difficulties of access at rainy season
Misunderstanding of tourism business
Benefits do not come in the quantity
and the expected time

Amboró CBT projects –
Market Approach
The visitors flow is low and it is not sufficient for all the CBT projects
Market potential was not evaluated
The information of visitor flow and growing trends in the region and the
ecotourism market was not analysed, so they do not have an idea of the potential
flow they could expect or draw.
Competitiveness of the destination was not evaluated
The market potential was assessed looking at natural resources, it was supposed
that there will be a increasing demand because of the attraction magnetism.
Marketing efforts and cost were not assessed
The distance and cost of access for international travellers was not analysed, but
despite not knowing they decided to address their offer to this market .
The role of tour operators and travel agencies have not been analysed, so they
do not have commercial agreements with tour operators.
It was assumed that informative and promotional material would be enough to
get the market, they did not consider the costs and needed efforts to reach the
the market

Amboró - CBT projects –
Market Approach
CBT Projects are looking for the same market
Market potential was not evaluated
The market of each CBT project has been selected based on general
assumptions, not of how each region could fulfill their interest and
needs.
The market analysis selected the adventure tourist as standard tourist
in order to design the offer, they did not look for market segments like
interests and activities.
The market target was the international ecotourism traveller –
adventurer, low budget. They did not look for local or national market.
Competitors were wrong evaluated
Projects in other communities were not considered as competitors but
as a reference of what to do or not to do.
The difference among projects was in the natural resources, not in the
kind of experiences.
They assumed that the number of visitors would be sufficient for every
project, nobody realized that they were building an environment of
price competitiveness.

Amboró CBT projects - MA
Bad quality of services and infrastructure
Market needs were not evaluated
The market assessment did not look for information
about market needs and interest, they used the
adventure travel behaviour as a reference. As the
tourists used tents, any change was considered as an
improvement.
Other products were not evaluated
The market assessment did not look for information of
similar products, so they did not have reference of
quality.

Amboró CBT project - MA
Benefits do not come in the volume and
the expected time because – Market
Approach:
They did not choose a market segment
Their product was developed for no one
The cost and the time to get benefits were
not measured

Lessons Learned
In order to have clarity in the possible
benefits, the costs and the time necessary to
achieve this goal in a CBT project, the market
information plays a decisive role.
Considering only the attraction magnetism
without comparing it with other resources,
can lead to an over estimation of the benefits
or an under calculation of the time to reach
this goal in a CBT project.

Lessons Learned
Information on the flow and the growth
trend is essential to estimate the
investments worth to do in CBT in a
region.
The selection of an international market
should consider the costs of promotion
(international fairs, bilingual webpages).

Lessons Learned
Taking a general, average or common market
profile to design the product could lead to a
general offer, and as a consequence, to have
a lot of competitors.
High expectation of benefits leads to a
„misleading“ of the competitive analysis of a
CBT project.
The difference of CBT products can not be
only based on the resources but on the type
of experience that is offered.

Lessons Learned
To copy successful products is not a
warranty of success.
Its needs to consider the needs and
interests of the market and the capacity
of the communities to fullfill all these
aspects – unique products.